Tom,
Several issues combined into the missed quarter.
First, the discounting of PCs. While the discounting was known, it was not necessarily clear how this would impact the bottom line. Remember that costs fluctuate too, and many components (processors, disk drives, memory) have gotten dramatically cheaper too. HPs distributed management tends to make it difficult to see exactly what the impact is until a lot of numbers are pulled together.
Second, Falloff in Asia. Much of this was not even PC related. In instruments in particular the sales and delivery cycles can be very long. And many deals are closed in the last weeks of the quarter, so guessing ahead is often very hard to do.
Third, HP's general culture. We give divisions and geographies a HUGE degree of independence in their operations. Which makes them able to respond quickly to particular market demands, but makes it very difficult for anybody to see the big picture at the company level. From top management's point of view, there were probably a lot of plusses and a lot of minuses visible, but no conclusive picture of how they would balance out in the end. That usually doesn't happen until end of quarter.
Just my own opinions, based on public information, and don't reflect the opinions of my employer.
mg |
